British higher education and qualifications have an impressive international reputation, with students in the United Kingdom encouraged to develop their potential while enjoying a full social life. The UK has a long history of welcoming international students to study in its universities and colleges. Studying in the UK will help you develop excellent language skills.

The English language is of crucial importance in today’s global business arena. (Most UK universities offer language support to international students but institutions have their own criteria for the level of English that students need to master.)

You’ll be in good company. The UK has a long history of welcoming international students to study in its universities and colleges. In Britain last year there were 1.8 million full-time undergraduate students in higher education, which included over 104,000 international students.

The cultural diversity of life in British higher education is unrivalled. From cosmopolitan cities like London, Cardiff, Belfast and Glasgow, to historic counties like Warwickshire and Yorkshire, the UK is a place of contrasts and culture, where ancient buildings sit alongside contemporary architecture.

The United Kingdom straddles the geographic higher mid-latitudes between 49 and 61 N. It is on the western seaboard of Afro-Eurasia, the world's largest land mass. These conditions allow convergence between moist maritime air and dry continental air. In this area, the large temperature variation creates atmospheric instability and this is a major factor that influences the often unsettled weather the country experiences, where many types of weather can be experienced in a single day. In general the climate of the UK is cool and often cloudy, and hot temperatures are infrequent.

The climate in the United Kingdom is defined as a temperate oceanic climate, or Cfb on the Köppen climate classification system, a classification it shares with most of northwest Europe.[1] Regional climates are influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and latitude. Northern Ireland, Wales and western parts of England and Scotland, being closest to the Atlantic Ocean, are generally the mildest, wettest and windiest regions of the UK, and temperature ranges here are seldom extreme. Eastern areas are drier, cooler, less windy and also experience the greatest daily and variations. Northern areas are generally cooler, wetter and have slightly larger temperature ranges than southern areas.

Though the UK is mostly under the influence of the maritime tropical air mass from the south-west, different regions are more susceptible than others when different air masses affect the country: Northern Ireland and the west of Scotland are the most exposed to the maritime polar air mass which brings cool moist air; the east of Scotland and north-east England are more exposed to the continental polar air mass which brings cold dry air; the south and south-east of England are more exposed to the continental tropical air mass which brings warm dry air (and consequently most of the time the warmest summer temperatures); and Wales and the south-west of England are the most exposed to the maritime tropical air mass which brings warm moist air.

If the air masses are strong enough in their respective areas during the summer, there can sometimes be a large difference in temperature between the far north of Scotland (including the Islands) and south-east of England – often a difference of 10–15 °C (18-27 °F) but sometimes of as much as 20 °C (36 °F) or more. An example of this could be that in the height of summer the Northern Isles could have temperatures around 15 °C (59 °F) and areas around London could reach 30 °C (86 °F).